Chords for Tom T. Hall "Old Dogs Children & Watermelon Wine"

[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I will, and I want to sing this song.
This is my last song.
I'm just going to sing three [E] songs.
We've heard enough of these Tom T.
Hall songs tonight, but_
No, listen.
I'm retired here.
The rest of these guys_ _
They're used to working.
They're up, you know.
_ I go to bed at dark and get up at daylight.
_ Last _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G#] couple of weeks, I've been missing the news, you know.
I wake up in the morning and say,
Is the world still, you know, going around?
And [E] what?
It gets dark early. _ _ _ _
I was doing a show down in Miami Beach, Florida one time with
George and Tammy _ [N] _ and
Ray Price.
They booked us down there for the Democratic National Convention.
And what happened four years earlier,
the hippies had torn up the convention in Chicago.
So they moved it down to Miami and to keep the hippies quiet,
they had us put on a big country music show over in Flamingo Park.
_ And it worked.
_ _ All those kids came over there to hear us pick and sing and it was the quietest convention
_ the Democrats ever had.
In fact, it was so quiet, they nominated Esther Schieffel for president. _
_ _ You all probably never heard about that, but it was a real quiet convention.
_ And I went back to the hotel after the show
to have a nightcap, which was my custom at the time.
I haven't had a drink, I guess, in 20 years.
But Johnny Cash gave me a tip about drinking.
_ John told me one time, he said, you know, Tom T, he says,
_ _ look, we're drinking.
I said, really?
He said, yeah, he said, it makes me break out. _
_ Dallas, Fort Worth, windows, doors. _ _
_ _ _ _ So [E] I gave it up too.
_ _ _ [N] But I went back to the hotel to have a nightcap and met this old fella and he had a great philosophy of life.
And I got on an airplane the next morning, was looking for something in my pocket,
and I found this napkin and it said watermelon wine on it.
So _ I _
got, I didn't have anything to write on, I found a pencil and I got out a sick bag,
you know.
And I wrote this song on the back of a sick bag and I kind of
wish I still had it because I've sung this song so much I might throw up right at the end of it.
_ [E] Now, [N] _
this is a good little story.
Great old fella. _ _
Somebody said, you know, this was a big hit song.
Why don't you go back down to Miami and find that guy and buy him a new car?
_ I said, look, this is the wisest, smartest, happiest,
calmest gentleman I have ever met.
Why in the hell would a guy go down there and screw up his whole life?
_ _ [G#] I did write a song about him. _
Oh, I got another.
_ I don't sing these songs in the key I wrote them [N] in. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ But I don't, I guess the band, you can just talk to each other while I do this.
_ How _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ [E] _
_ [A#] _ [B] _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ old [C#] do you think [F#] I am, he said.
_ [B] _ _ I said, well, [D#] I didn't know. _
[B] _ [C#] He said, you know, I turned 65 about _
_ [B] _ [C#] all 11 months ago [F#] and I was sitting _ in Miami _ [Bm] pouring blood.
I was [D#m] sitting when [B] this old gray [F#] black gentleman _
_ [C#] _ was cleaning up the [F#] land. _ _
_ _ _ _ Well, there wasn't _
anyone _ around
[B] except this old man.
[D#] _ _ [G#] _ [B] _ [C#] _ Guy who ran the bar was [B] watching
[C#] iron sights [F#] on TV and _ _ _ uninvited
he sat [B] down and he _
[D#] opened his mouth
[G#m] _ [B] on old
dogs [F#] and children
_ _ _ [C#] _
and [F#] watermelon wine.
_ _ _ _ [D#] _
_ [C#] He ever had
[F#] a drink of [B] watermelon _ wine?
[D#] _ [G#] _ _
[B] _ [C#] He told me all about it
_ [B] though [C#] I didn't answer [F#] back. _ _
He said, ain't but three things in this world _ _
[B] worth a _ _ [D#] solitary
_ [G#] _
_ [B] _ _ except old [F#] dogs and children _
_ [C#] _ and watermelon [F#] wine. _
_ _ _ _ He said, you know women
they think about they selves
[B] well when men folk ain't [G#] around.
_ _ [B] [C#] Hey and friends are hard to find when they
[Bm] discover that [F#m] you're down.
[F#] _ _ He said I tried it all
when I was [B] young
and in [D#] my mind.
_ [G#] _ [B] Now it's [F#] old dogs and children
_ [C#] _ _
and [F#] watermelon wine. _ _ _ _
He said, you know dogs
they care about you
_ _ [Bm] _ even when you make [D#] mistakes
[G#] [B] and [C#] _ God bless little children
[B] while they're still [C#] too [F#] young.
And _ when he moved away
I found my pen
[B] and I copied [D#] down that [G#] line
_ [B] about old
dogs [F#] and children
_ [C#] _ _ and [F#] watermelon wine. _
_ _ _ _ Well, I had to catch a plane
up to [B] Atlanta
the [G#] next day
as [B] _ [C#] _ I left for my room
I [B] saw him picking up
[C#] my [F#] chain
and that night
I dreamed in peaceful [B] sleep of J.D. [G#] Smith
_ _ [B] of old
[F#] dogs and children
_ _ [C#] _ _ _
[F] and watermelon [F#] wine. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] Thank you, thank you very much.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Thank _ _ you _ very much, _ thank you very much.
Let me say one more thing. _
_ I'll say one more thing
_ it is not possible
but I wish
that you folks could have had as much fun tonight
as I've had.
_ Thank you.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _